Winter Stories
by DancingStar01
Summary: Includes my stories Winder Wonderland? and Canadian Winter... Pairing: C/L, P/C C/L, J/S
1. Winter Wonderland?

Title: Winter Wonderland?  
>Author: DancingStar<br>Pairing: Connor/ Lindsay, Peter/ Claire  
>Rating: 12<br>Category: Mystery, Comedy  
>Summaries: The hunting for the Yeti has begun...<br>Comments: No Crossover, this time :-(

**Winter Wonderland?**

"Let's go!", Peter yelled and rammed a couple of skis into the ground. He and Claire spent their vacation in the snowy Rocky Mountains. Peter had come to this place because he loved skiing but on the other hand, he didn´t spend his vacation at home cause then there was a high risk Connor probably thought, he´d need his help for a case. So Peter was lucky he didn´t had to worry about his job but his brother asked him to take care about Barney, Peter´s nephew. The little boy had to come with him and Claire when Peter´s brother heard he planned a nice vacation in the Rocky Mountains. Finally, the little Barney had to learn how to ski.  
>Barney also looked up a huge mountain with big eyes. "We have to go down THIS mountain?", he nervously asked. Barney had never skied before. After all, there were not many hills at Bell Island, where his parents and his grandfather lived.<br>"No offense, Uncle Peter, but do you have lost your marbles?", Barney asked.  
>"This is a slight slope," Peter said and put on his goggles. Slowly he turned around his axis and considered the situation. "Great!", he said to himself: Today, not many people were on the slopes and therefore he was able to let off steam.<br>"I don´t do it! I am going back to the hotel and see what Claire is doing!", With these words Barney stamped and began to return to the hotel. He past some people, who were on their way to the lift, and walked the last meters to the Rocky Heights Hotel. The building looked like a castle and the entrance hall was decorated with beautiful, brown leather chairs which fit beautifully with the dark marble floor and the furniture.  
>In the room of his uncle and his girlfriend, Barney carefully peeled himself out of his snow suit and was looking for Claire. He thought it was strange he was allowed to come along with Peter and Claire, but he wasn´t allowed telling anyone about this trip. Peter had told him it was because he and Claire weren´t together for long and they still didn´t want to tell their friends about it.<br>"I'm back!", he exclaimed and Claire immediately came to meet him.  
>"Why are you so early?", she asked, "Didn´t you want to ski with your uncle?"<br>"Uncle Peter is as crazy as a jaybird. He wants to ski down the black slope."  
>"Why do I have the bad feeling," Claire began, "that Peter will spend the rest of his vacation in hospital?"<p>

Meanwhile, Peter had reached the summit of the mountain and looked down the valley. "That´s a Trifle," he thought to himself, when he looked at the track and got ready to leave. He even watched as some people which were racing down the hill in front of him and then he started skiing. First, his skis slipped slowly through the snow but then they became faster and faster. Peter rushed past a group of large pine trees and suddenly he almost crashed against another person. "Hey," he man called completely surprised and continued on his way. But Peter got off course, ran between two trees and came to a halt in a clearing. There he realized that he was sinking in the snow. Then Peter called out for help and after a few minutes someone came along: it was a couple from Wisconsin, they introduced themselves as Jeff and Bridget Roycroft. "This happened to us, too," Bridget said amused when she saw Peter in the snow, "But don´t panic, you can be saved out there."  
>Bridget's husband, Jeff, however, doubted. "We better should get someone... If you don´t move, you can´t fall further."<br>Peter nodded and looked after his two rescuers until they were gone. It took five minutes... ten minutes... and nobody came. Bored, Peter looked around and suddenly discovered a tall figure with white fur behind a thick tree. "A polar bear," he first thought, but then it occurred to him here he wasn´t at the North Pole.  
>Grudgingly, the animal moved away and Peter saw a red stain in its fur. No doubt, it was blood. Where the mouth of the animal had to be, it carried a dead rabbit between the teeth. "What is this?", Peter asked quietly and the animal suddenly raised its head. The creature sniffed in the air, as if it would record a track. The blood in Peter´s veins froze in fear. He didn´t want to end up as dessert for a Yeti! The unknown thing crept slowly up to him and just before it reached him, Jeff and Bridget came back with a rescue squad. The creature hurried to leave.<br>"Are you hurt?", a paramedic asked while he got Peter out of the snow pit.  
>"Not really... Can you tell me if polar bears live up here?", he asked.<br>"Free-living polar bears? No. If you´d would ask me about Buffalo, I could understand but polar bears?" The paramedics almost sounded a bit amused. Finally he turned around to his colleagues. "I think we can leave! He´s fine."  
>Then the paramedics left. "I owe you something! May I invite you for a coffee?", Peter asked and Jeff nodded. Before they sat down in a café at the foot of the mountain, Peter went to a phone booth. He had to tell Connor immediately about the Yeti, which he had seen...<p>

Next day, Connor drove the van to the hotel, which Peter had described on the phone. Even from the street he could see the small, brightly lit castle. "It´s beautiful," Lindsay said enthusiastically when she looked out of the window.  
>"Unfortunately, we aren´t here for vacation," with these words Connor took her back to earth.<br>"That´s certainly a very cozy place," he then said when he noticed her disappointed look and looked back on the snow-covered road, "If we´re done, it won´t hurt us if we stay a little longer."  
>"That sounds very good," Lindsay replied. They already reached the parking lot of the hotel, stopped the car and they got out. With a couple of skis under their arms Peter, Claire and Barney came to them.<br>"We are pleased you´re finally here!", Claire yelled and pulled her jacket tight, when a cold gust of wind blew around them.  
>"We didn´t know you are here, too, Claire," Lindsay said surprised.<br>"They told me I have to keep this in private," the little boy next to Claire told, "Not even my mom and my dad...", he wanted to go on, as Claire quickly covered his mouth with her hand.  
>"Where did you see the Yeti?", Connor asked and looked at Peter. Peter turned around and pointed to a high mountain, whose summit had already disappeared behind a thick cloud. "Up there," he said, "I have seen him or her yesterday there above."<br>Lindsay shuddered at the thought of standing up there and looking down the valley.  
>"We leave immediately... Lindsay, you're coming with us", Connor suddenly said.<br>"No. I can´t even ski, "Lindsay disagreed and Connor looked at her in amazement.  
>"What do you mean, you can´t?", he asked incredulously.<br>"I've never learned skiing when I was a child... It´s a silly rumor that every Canadian is good at skiing or ice-skating."  
>"Connor, it´s alright," Peter wasn´t in the mood for a dispute, "Then, Connor and I´ll go without you," Peter finally defused the situation and struck against Connors shoulder, so hard that he even lost his sunglasses.<br>Connor looked at him doubtfully and of course Peter had noticed. "That won´t be that hard! Hunting a Yeti is fun... Come with me to my suite, I show you the gun I've bought for hunting, "he said, left and Connor and Lindsay thought they had misheard.  
>"Gun?", she repeated and Claire nodded.<br>"He bought the gun a few hours ago, I couldn´t stop him at all," she said.  
>"And he wants to kill the animal which lives up there in the mountains?"<br>"He said he´d stuff it and put it into his living room."  
>"I don´t want to be there when they shoot... whatever it is."<br>"Me neither... I'll help you with the luggage, "said Claire and together they loaded the suitcases out of the car.

"What do you think?", Peter wanted to know from Connor, after he handed him the gun.  
>"Impressive," he replied and let himself fall into a brown leather armchair with ears. "What will you do if the animal is a Sasquach?", Connor asked.<br>"What´s a Sasquach?"  
>"Another name for Big Foot. As far as I know a Yeti only lives in the Himalaya."<br>"We should leave." Now, Peter wasn´t in the mood for getting corrected.  
>Connor got up and both left the room. Peter had put his gun as a precaution in a bag. First, they put on their skis and before Connor could ask anything, how much time they´d need, Peter waddled to the lift like a duck.<br>"Be careful," a worried voice suddenly said to Connor. He looked up and saw Lindsay, who had come to say goodbye to him.  
>"Don´t worry about us. We... ", He stopped talking when Lindsay came one step closer and hugged him. He just hoped that Peter didn´t see it, but he and Claire had a secret, too.<br>"I know you´re old enough to take care of yourself. But you don´t have to prove how brave you are."  
>"That's okay," he smiled and patted her cheek once.<br>Peter sat by now in the lift and went up the mountain. "Connor, where are you?", he exclaimed impatiently in the lift, looking down to them. "I have to go," Connor said, before he walked the lift. Lindsay went back to the hotel and sat there in the entrance hall. "Do you want to wait around here for Peter and Connor?", Claire and Peter's nephew Barney simultaneously asked.  
>Lindsay smiled a little bit tired. "Yes, they won´t stay away for long."<br>"What about shopping?," Claire suggested, "It won´t help you, if you stare at the walls."  
>"Okay," Lindsay agreed. A little distraction was exactly what she needed.<p>

Much later, Connor and Peter walked through the snow on their skis side by side. Peter wanted to show his colleagues the place where he had seen the Yeti for the first time. Finally they reached the pit, took off the skis and Connor began to check the area.  
>"There are traces of blood," he said softly. If the Yeti was still here, he didn´t want to wake or lure it in any case.<br>"Can you see footprints?", Peter asked.  
>"Yes, and they are huge! We should pour them out and send it to the Mobile Lab."<br>"I was hoping you´d say that and have already brought something," Peter replied, pulling a plaster cast and a package from his backpack. The gun slipped out and fell into the snow in front of Connor. "You also took the gun with you..."  
>"Safety comes first."<br>Before Connor could start discussing this, Peter had everything ready for the sink and had the impression immortalized in plaster. "These impressions are huge. This is something I've never seen... They must be greater than the foot of a gorilla", Peter thought with an agitated tone in his voice.  
>"If Cooper looks at the prints he can calculate how heavy the animal is. If it isn´t a bear...", Connor said and stopped when Peter suddenly straightened. He had heard someone or something stepping on a branch. Frantically he looked around and looked for the white, furry animal. Connor also looked around and when he couldn´t see anything, he packed the now hardened plaster cast in Peter's backpack.<br>"It was only a rabbit, I´m sure," Connor calmed him.  
>"Yes, you´re right," Peter said and put on his skis again.<br>At that moment, someone stepped on a bigger branch again, which broke under the weight of the figure without resistance.  
>"Two rabbits?", Peter asked, but this time Connor shook his head.<br>Peter stooped and lifted his rifle from the ground. Trembling, he held it in front of his body and looked through the scope. Just at that moment a large, furry shape came around the tree and made a huge step forward. Peter once pulled the trigger, but the bullet only found the tree.  
>"Peter," Connor exclaimed, holding a thick branch in his hands and as if that wasn´t enough, the Yeti suddenly began to cry and to waved its arms wildly.<br>"Hands up!", Peter shouted, still trembling in fear and the Yeti who had the gun in its face, stretched its arms in the air.  
>"Do... Do... Don´t shoot, please! I'm just on the way to a mountain station", the Yeti said.<br>"You are human?", Connor said.  
>The figure drew a white fur hat from its head and twisted it in its hands.<br>"Of course I'm human! My husband had an accident on the slope and now I'm running through the forest in order to be faster at a mountain station and get some help", the blond-haired woman said and she was still nervous. Only then Peter put the gun back into his backpack.  
>"It´s dangerous to walk through the woods by yourself," he grumbled.<br>"Who do you tell that?," the woman sneered, "Do you have a hunting license?"  
>"We don´t need! We are with the OSIR", Peter grumbled back.<br>"Peter, that's enough now! Well, we´ll get help. Meanwhile you can return to your husband. Please tell us, where exactly he is", Connor said, pointing to the direction from which the woman had come. Then he put on the skis and left with Peter.  
>"She was scaring me a lot," Peter admitted, shortly before they reached the mountain station. Connor only muttered something to himself. Then they reached the mountain station and informed paramedics about the accident.<p>

"Hi! How was your search for Yeti?", Lindsay asked late in the evening and quickly got up from the chair. Outside it was already dark and although Connor was back since almost two hours, he had talked to Cooper and convinced him to examine the prints today. He had sent the plaster imitations by express mail service.  
>Connor took off his jacket and smiled. "Peter nearly killed a passer-by, because she was wearing a white fur jacket and cross-walked through the woods. But now he is even more motivated to get the Yeti", he said.<br>"Are you hungry? Claire, Barney and I got something from the room service." Lindsay entered the small kitchen of the suite and took a plate from the cabinet. Officially they didn´t share a room but that wouldn´t deter Lindsay to sneak to her boyfriend when she missed him too much. This place was perfect for a romantic vacation and she was sorry she hadn´t had the idea. They still had a few days vacation….  
>"No, I'm not hungry," Connor said, "Is everything alright?" Connor noticed the change in her voice immediately.<br>"It's alright," she promised him, but when she said everything was fine, that wasn´t true, Connor thought. "I'm sorry, too, we don´t spend much time with each other," he admitted, "That's why I have a surprise for you."  
>"What do you mean?", Lindsay was confused when he took her hand and gave her a jacket.<br>They took the elevator to the first floor, left the hotel which looked like a small castle and walked to the garden together. "Where are we going?", Lindsay asked and her question was answered, when they stood in front of a small pond, where the water was frozen. "What do you think of ice skating?", Connor wanted to know, "I still have some skates and we both can spend a little time undisturbed." He took her hands and pulled her with him on the ice.  
>"Connor, you know, I can´t ice skating," Lindsay said, "This is a beautiful place and you should spend a little more time with me... But not this way."<br>"I know," Connor said and at that moment he thought she probably wouldn´t bear this any longer, if he didn´t care better about her.  
>"I promise we´ll spent time together from tomorrow on…. After I could dissuade Peter, not to hunt the Yeti... Obviously, the Yeti doesn´t exist." He pulled her closer and she wrapped her arms around him gratefully.<br>"It's very beautiful here," she murmured.  
>"Yes, it's a really nice hotel."<br>"I didn´t mean the hotel," Lindsay smiled, who clung to him and finally kissed him wistfully.

"Remind me that I´ll never ask in which direction we should go," Connor complained the next day. About an hour, Connor and Peter got lost in the woods and because they thought they would be faster at the mountain station without their snowmobile, they left it.  
>"You asked me for my opinion," Peter looked up at the sky again. The sky was clear, but the air was freezing. "Do you have any idea where we are?", Peter asked, trying not to sound annoyed. Connor took a map out of his backpack and looked at him.<br>"Not really, but up to the next mountain station, it´s not far," he said.  
>"We should have a break," Peter suggested, "Do you have food?"<br>Connor paused and checked his backpack. "I picked up some sandwiches at the hotel," he said, and handed Peter a sandwich. Meanwhile it was lunchtime and they began to wonder how long they still had to walk until they finally arrived at the mountain station. "But it´s possible we´re completely wrong," Peter answered the question.  
>"I don´t think so... Let's move on?"<br>They ate their sandwiches on the run. Peter tried to commit the area to his memory when they passed a few small trees.  
>Suddenly they heard a low rumble and went faster. Peter got ahead of Connor, but suddenly he stopped. "This can´t be true!", he cried. The snowmobile of their hotel was standing in front of them. They had moved in a circle all the time!<p>

After lunch, there had been fresh lobster at the hotel restaurant, Peter and Connor were still out, although they had promised to Lindsay and Claire. So Lindsay met Claire and Barney near the slopes. Lindsay was in a deck chair and enjoyed her skiing- free time, Claire sat in a chair next to her and helped Barney when he put on the skis.  
>"Are you sure you don´t want to come with me?", Barney finally asked.<br>"I'm pretty sure," Claire smiled, "I'm very proud of you, you want to learn how to ski."  
>"I only learn how to ski so I can ski with Uncle Peter," Barney replied. He disappeared into the next lift.<br>"You´re really good with kids," Lindsay said, when the boy was gone, "Is there something we should know?"  
>"No, nothing," Claire said.<br>At the top of the beginner slopes, Barney crouched down and probably wasn´t thinking about it when suddenly his skis were moving by itself.  
>"Barney!", Claire shouted after him shocked when she noticed how Peter's nephew drove off and had lost control of his skis. The boy was sitting in the snow with his butt but the planks under his feet didn´t slow down.<br>Screaming, he drove past a group of deck chairs, which stood at the edge of the slope. It was exactly the group where Lindsay and Claire had been sitting. Lindsay took off her dark sunglasses. "Hey Claire, am I wrong or is Peter's nephew…?", she asked uncertainly.  
>"I know! I know!", she said indignantly, and followed the boy. Barney came closer and closer to the end of the slope and still wasn´t able to brake. He screamed even louder when he suddenly saw a road ahead. With crashing boards, he crossed the street and landed in a huge pile of snow. Finally, the ride into hell was over. Barney's head appeared a few seconds after the landing in the pile and there he saw the black car that passed this road just shortly after him. If he had arrived a few seconds later, this trip would have taken a bad end.<br>He decided not to tell his uncle and girlfriend about this car, but when Claire came across the street and scolded him, he knew she had seen it.  
>"All I wanted was just that I can ski with Uncle Peter this evening," he defended himself and Claire snatched a ski pole from his hand.<br>"If your crazy uncle is jumping off the cliff, do you join him?", Claire asked him and together they went back to the slopes.

"This time we go to the right," Connor said and walked with giant strides toward a crossroad, where they had walked to the left a few hours ago. They had left the snowmobile behind them and continued trying to come to the mountain station. Connor turned to the right and followed the path. The forest was as dark as in the night.  
>They were still walking and because Connors swatch was broke, they didn´t know what time it was. "Where's the Map?", Peter asked.<br>"Let´s stop hunting the Yeti," Connor suddenly said and stopped. Peter also stopped and watched him surprised. "Why?", he asked.  
>"Because..." Crap! Connor now had to figure out a good reason. "Because I'm cold and because I still got aching muscles," he said. In addition, he was dead tired.<br>"This can´t be true," Peter complained, "You´re chicken out again!"  
>"Chicken out? Me? No, I don´t. But unlike you, I know when a case is hopeless."<br>"Hey, maybe I find the Yeti, get rich and famous but then just don´t come to me and…"  
>Once again, Connor grabbed for the map. He gave up, but this time it was already too dark to read. "Can´t see anything... But we are certainly on the right track."<br>"You said that three hours ago... By the way I got a flash…, "began Peter and wanted to say he´d got a flashlight, but Connor raised his arms annoyed.  
>"Are you sure you kept the map right side up?", Peter asked.<br>"Of course!", Connor replied without looking up from the map.  
>"We must hurry," Connor said again. He continued his way through the darkness and now he was running, powered by the hope they´d reach the mountain station soon and they walked on a path that was surrounded with snow trenches on both sides. Now Connor remembered once again the humming noise, which they had heard a few hours ago. He wondered if it was perhaps only caused by the snow or if the thin mountain air caused hallucinations. Last, was very unlikely, so the snow was to blame. But suddenly he heard a loud, powerful roar and it sounded very angry. Connor turned around. "Peter," he cried, and knew how pale he suddenly was, "Hurry up at last! The mountain station isn´t far away."<br>"I'm glad to hear!"  
>"Well," Connor exclaimed, turned around and wanted to go further. Actually, the map told this path should be a safe trail. Connor stepped forward and heard a sound, which was caused when the ground began sinking.<br>"I think we got a problem," he said when he realized that he really sank in the cold ground. "I get stuck." He tried to escape with a quick motion or grabbing for a tree root and suddenly he stuck in snow up to his waist.  
>"Don´t move," Peter said who was not sinking in snow. Peter was looking for an object with which he was able to get Connor out of the snow and finally he found a large branch.<br>"Okay... Take this!"  
>He stretched out the branch to Connor and he grabbed it. "The snow is pretty cold," Connor complained and pulled the branch. Peter stood at the edge of the snowfield and rowed his arms wildly.<br>"Stop pulling! You..." But too late! The sentence was hardly finished and he also lost his balance and landed in the snow. "... You´re pulling me in, too," Peter finished the sentence now and looked down at himself again. He was covered all over with cold snow and got stuck as well. "And what do we do now?", Connor asked.  
>"No idea," Peter admitted. Connor tried to escape the snow, but it was useless. Instead of freeing himself, he fell ever further.<br>"This is really great ... I've always hoped I'd die at home in my bed surrounded by my family, instead I have to bite the dust here in the snow, " Peter complained and looked around. There was really no way to escape.

"Peter?", Connor asked a few hours later with a nervous tone in his voice," Are you still there?"  
>"Hmmmm", Peter only answered. Of course he was mad because they both stuck up to their necks in the snow and now he was sinking so far that he could barely open his mouth without eating snow.<br>"I just want to apologize, if we should die here," Connor quickly said.  
>"Hmmmmm", Peter replied again. Connor took a break until he couldn´t bear the hysterical screams of the eagles.<br>"I just wanted to have the map so we could return to the hotel as fast as possible. That was pretty stupid, I guess..." Connor closed his eyes. Then he heard a low rumble and now he was alarmed again. "Peter," he warned his friend, "It's back!"  
>But Peter wasn´t talking anymore. Connor kicked his legs and started one last attempt to get free, but this didn´t work. Next moment, a ray of light glided over their heads. "We're here!", Connor roared with sore throat. And actually, the light beams suddenly stopped and a few seconds later, two men in police clothes appeared in the forest.<br>"Is the snow vehicle from the Rocky Heights Hotel yours?", one man asked.  
>"That's his snow mobile!", Connor said, pointing at Peter, who was barely visible in the snow. One of the two police officers quickly took a special rescue unit from his car and pulled Peter to the shore of the snowfield. When he was safe, the policeman took care of Connor.<br>"Are you all right?", asked a police officer and Peter nodded. "I could need a warm blanket," he admitted, looking down at himself again. Connor was still standing at the edge of the snowfield and was breathing hard. "How did you find us?", he asked.  
>"We found the snowmobile and then searched the area... We go to the hospital. You come with us?" the policeman replied.<br>"That won´t be necessary, thank you."  
>The police men took them to the black slope, from where they should be able to reach the mountain station easily. Then they left Peter and Connor alone.<br>"Did Cooper already call you?", Peter asked, while they were walking through the snow. It had snowed overnight and now of course it was difficult to shut down the black slope. "I wish there was another way to the mountain station," Peter muttered, but he was interrupted by a scream. Connor and Peter immediately fought all the way back to see where the scream came from. With a powerful jump Peter dived across a small hill and slid down on the other side. There was the cry again and now Peter realized it was a woman. And then he stopped. "What?", Connor wanted to know. He first had to push the cap out of his face until he could see something.  
>"There is a white, huge beast! And it threatens a woman... It has huge crawls!", Peter yelled.<br>"What if this is a human in a fur coat again?"  
>"No," said Peter then, panic in his voice. He had pulled a pair of binoculars from his jacket pocket and held it to his eyes, "This is a huge Yeti!"<br>Now Peter grabbed his gun and also looked through the visor. The woman screamed and before the big monster finally pushed her to the ground and threw itself over her, Peter pulled the trigger, the Yeti let her go and glared in their direction...

By late afternoon, Connor and Peter still hadn´t returned. Claire was worried about Peter, hoping he was fine. She sat next to the window and stared out onto the slopes. They could now be happy with all the happy skiers here. Barney had been recovered from the shock and built a big igloo, which collapsed into itself again and again, next to the slope.  
>Claire leaned her forehead against the window and still looked out. "Peter, where are you now?", she asked herself.<br>Lindsay also was worried about Connor. She sat on the sofa. Suddenly the phone rang, she ran quickly to the table and answered. The worst would be like if a paramedic wanted to talk to her and told her that Connor had a terrible accident and he would not have survived.  
>Wearily, she brushed back a strand of hair and breathed out reliefed when she heard Cooper's voice: "Good day. Connor happens to be there?", he asked. He seemed to have guessed, how worried she was.<br>"No, he´s…. He´s not here. Can I give him a message?"  
>"Could you tell him that I examined the plaster cast? Please also tell him there must be a figure who is up to 1300 pounds. It´s an unknown entity, because not even in the jungles there are humanoid animals with that weight and polar bears won´t be available in the Rockies, hm?", his last words sounded almost like a joke. He wanted to cheer Lindsay up.<br>"Thanks for calling," she said goodbye and hung up in a feeble voice. At this moment, Connor came in. "There you are!" Lindsay yelled, rushed to him and hugged him, "I was afraid you´re lost up there."  
>"No, I'm fine," he whispered. Lindsay smiled happily. From the corner of her eye she noticed how Peter wrapped his arms around Claire.<br>"Come on, there´s something you heed to see," he said finally and together they walked down the hall and a few minutes later the left the hotel. There was a paramedic squad, including a group of policemen and a Ranger.  
>"What do you think?", he wanted to know, when they passed the dead body of the Yeti. "Unbelievable," Lindsay whispered, "How did you ...?"<br>"It attacked a skier. Peter had to shoot it. The Yeti also nearly attacked us", he softly told and went with Peter, Claire and her to the sacrifice of the Yeti.  
>"Are you alright?", Lindsay wanted to know concerned and a young woman nodded.<br>"Now I´m fine, yes," she said, wrapped herself in the blanket she got by the paramedics. Connor put his arm around Lindsay and went with her to Claire, who stood a little aloof.  
>"What will happen to the Yeti now?", Lindsay asked.<br>"I don´t know but certainly the Rangers gonna stuff it and bring it to a museum...", Connor replied. The ranger called him and said: "I don´t want to disappoint you, but your Yeti is a female. And to judge by the milk glands in the abdomen, somewhere out there, there must be a small, second Yeti..."

"And now?", Lindsay asked in the evening. Connor had persuaded her to come ice skating and they were alone on the pond, the ice glittered mysteriously in the moonlight. "Will you and Peter continue searching after the yeti?"  
>"I don´t know," Connor answered honestly and when he spun around, he grabbed her hand. "Connor," she exclaimed in horror, "I can´t...!"<br>"You can."  
>"Just because we come from Canada, it doesn´t mean we are perfect skater. This is a strange prejudice, "she laughed, and at that moment she realized Claire and Peter also came to the pond in the garden of the hotel. Lindsay was so distracted she nearly fell when she wouldn´t have stuck to Connor.<br>"May we keep you company?", Peter asked and he didn´t wait for a response.  
>"Only if you answer a question," Lindsay said, "Are you Claire and a couple or not?"<br>"We are and now you tell us if you and Connor are secretly a couple, too!", Claire said.  
>"Oh, the answer is too obvious," Lindsay laughed Connor and hugged her.<br>"Really? I don´t think so", Claire was shocked when they skated away and left her alone, "Hey! Wait for me! You owe me an answer…! Connor! Lindsay, I´m talking to YOU….!"

Fin


	2. Canadian Winter

Title: Canadian Winter  
>Author: Dancing Star<br>Crossover: PSI Factor/ Sue Thomas  
>Pairing: Connor Lindsay, Sue/ Jack  
>Rating: 12<br>Category: Humor, Mystery  
>Summaries: In a snowy night the team hunts for a mysterious animal in the depths of Canada.<br>Notes: What do we learn from this story? Correct: Never go into the woods by yourself. :-)

**Canadian winter**

It was late afternoon in a cold January. The weather was poor this year and although spring was practically on the doorstep, the Canadian Nature was still buried under a thick layer of snow.  
>Connor fumbled a little clueless in the freezer of the refrigerator, which stood in the living room of the Mobile Lab. He was resting one arm on a crutch. While he was doing this, he wondered if perhaps it was even colder outside than in the freezer and he asked himself how far away they actually were from the Arctic Circle.<br>"What are you doing?", his colleague Lindsay asked, standing on the doorway. She didn´t come closer but was watching him skeptically.  
>"I'm looking for a solution."<br>"You won´t find this in the fridge," she promised while she guessed what solution he was looking for, "Sit down on the couch, I'll get you an ice pack."  
>Connor did what she said as he limped back to the couch with his crutch and sat down. There he waited until Lindsay came back with an ice pack and placed it a little rudely on his knee. His face twisted in pain. Lindsay didn´t apologize and at that moment Peter came in. He pulled a hat from his head, stuffed it into the pocket of his thick winter coat and watched Connors unhappy face. Peter had been traveling all day.<br>"What happened?", he asked.  
>"Connor was hit by a cyclist today." Lindsay, who was still sitting next to Connor, turned around to face him.<br>"From a cyclist?", Peter repeated incredulously, "How can this happen?" Peter saw how Connor rolled his eyes a little annoyed.  
>He didn´t know how many times he had told this story today: First, he told the police, then Lindsay, then the doctor in the emergency room, another doctor in the emergency room, a taxi driver, Anton, Sue and Jack, and now Peter: This morning Connor went to a bakery to get some breakfast. When he left the bakery and wanted to cross a street a cyclist, racing out of nowhere, didn´t see him. The cyclist collided with Connor and they both fell to the ground. Some people helped him to get up and because they had seen the accident, they stayed until the police came. The cyclist was clearly to blame for the accident because the traffic light was green and the cyclist was driving on the wrong side of the road. The police tried to reach Peter and Anton and because they both didn´t answer their phones, they finally called Lindsay. She was very surprised when she got out of the taxi and saw him sitting a little lethargic on the stairs to the bakery. Lindsay took Connor to the hospital, where his painful knee proved to be a contusion. They drove home again with the taxi and the taxi driver asked them all sorts of questions about Connor's knee so he told him the story. At the Mobile Lab, they met Anton, then Sue and Jack, who were all quite puzzled why Connor hobbled. So he told the story again. Connor gave Anton a sick note from the emergency room, said that he was sick for at least one week. Peter was the last who didn´t know the story until now. Connor wondered if there were more people he had to tell. If so, he could speak a message on his cell phone and then play it...<br>"You're sick for a week?," Peter asked, when he also saw the sick note and Connor nodded. "That's too bad," Peter said, "That means you can´t come skiing with us next week."  
>"I can see you from the edge of the runway," Connor calmed him, but inwardly he thanked that Peter reminded him he couldn´t join in the fun.<br>The door to the Mobile Lab was open again, as Sue, Anton and Jack came to them. Sues dog Levi barked and then sat in the basket, the team had sponsored him. Not every OSIR team was accompanied by a dog, even if Levi was Sue's hearing dog.  
>Jack carried six pizza boxes on his arm. "We thought at least we care about dinner if Lindsay must be Connors nurse," Sue smiled with a wink and gave them the pizza.<br>Connor glanced inside his box and when he realized he had gotten Hawaiian pizza, he exchanged with Lindsay, whose box included Mexican BBQ. Sue hoped they were happy with their food: after all the ride to the next town had lasted nearly two hours. She never needed an afternoon to get a meal for the whole team.  
>After dinner they were more bored than the snowy wasteland could ever allow. Fortunately they found the game console, which they had given Jack last year for Christmas. It was a very good investment, because even though they didn´t like to admit, the game console had already saved them many a boring evenings.<br>Peter suggested they might watch a good movie instead of car racing. Up here in the Canadian wilderness, the reception of cable television was zero, satellite TV wasn´t working because of the new austerity measures.  
>Peter said he had fortunately a DVD in his luggage and he went off to fetch it.<br>"Isn´t it the DVD we have given you past Christmas?", Lindsay asked when he returned.  
>"This is the episode of Star Trek: Voyager where Captain Janeway is assimilated by the Borg."<br>Lindsay remembered very well they had even watched the DVD with him and Peter had been horrified when the showdown in space began.  
>"We'd better play a game," Sue suggested. They had five different video games. Connor and Jack opted for a multiplayer game called "Donkey races" and after the first round Lindsay could see Jack's donkey on the screen was losing the game. Then she noticed that Connor's donkey jumped over a stone and got rid of its rider. Anton watched the gambling crowd skeptical, while he read a book.<br>"Before we left, I bought an electric broom", Lindsay told and Sue, who was sitting beside her on the couch, stroking her dog Levi, disagreed said: "This is called vacuum cleaner nowadays."  
>"No, it's really an electric broom."<br>"Did you use the broom for flying here?," Peter asked and Lindsay heard Connor laughing, though he was still engaged in his video game.  
>"That's enough," she said and a funny melody brought her attention back to the screen.<br>"Winning is a bit difficult if you fall from your donkey!", Jack called and his donkey crossed the finish line first. The words "Game over" appeared on Connors half of the screen and frustrated, he put down the game console. Lindsay sat down again beside him.  
>"How is your knee?", she asked.<br>"Right now it feels as if it would burn... Can I have another bag of ice, please?"  
>"Men," Lindsay rolled her eyes, "You always act as if your are a superhero but if you only have a slight cold or you cut on a sharp edge of a paper you´re almost dying ," while she said this, she searched in the freezer.<br>"I was struck down by a cyclist," Connor recalled.  
>"And then by a donkey," Jack added and Connor complained.<br>Lindsay came back and handed him a green plastic bag.  
>"What´s that?", Connor asked.<br>"We don´t have ice anymore. You have to take frozen peas", she thought it was funny when Connor took the bag and put it on his knee. Then she apologized to make a cup of tea and asked her colleagues if she should bring something from the kitchen. Sue would also like to have a cup of tea and Lindsay told her she wanted to bring her a cup. She searched in the kitchen after the tea bags, when she noticed a steady, thumping noise. Lindsay listened for a moment. The knock came from a wall in the next room. But there was nothing, except equipment. She even went into the next room to check this but when she entered the room the noise disappeared and she couldn´t see anything unremarkable: No loose objects. So the noise had come from outside.  
>"Did you hear that?", she called out to her colleagues.<br>"What?," Peter replied, while he threw a tennis ball for Levi through the living room and was immediately reprimanded by Connor the Mobile Lab wasn´t a playground.  
>"A knock."<br>"It was only a wild animal," Peter reassured her. After all, they were in the deepest Canada.  
>Lindsay decided not to listen to the sound and prepared her and Sues tea in the kitchen. For about a minute there was silence.<br>But then the knock returned. This time it sounded like help-seeking and knocking, it came directly from the wall that was behind the sterile equipped kitchenette. Lindsay came closer to the source of the noise and when she touched the cold wall of the Mobile Lab, she could even hear the whistle of the wind, which swept around the truck. The knocking was over and when she relaxed a little, the sound suddenly appeared at a different location in the Mobile Lab. She wondered who was playing a game with them here and decided she had to talk to Connor as soon as possible. She thought it was really randomly he now also hobbled in the small kitchen to get something to eat.  
>"I told you I could bring something for you," she reminded him.<br>"It was a spontaneous decision," Connor replied and winked.  
>"I heard it again," Lindsay told him, "The knocking noise. It´s moving: You can find the source, the noise disappears and reappears in a different place again... Don´t tell me this comes from a wild animal," Lindsay complained and followed him, while he was getting a sandwich and then walking back to the couch with his crutch. Because she was more mobile than he was with his crutch it wasn´t difficult to follow him. Connor had to listen to her.<br>"I think we should go outside and find out," Connor said.  
>"Exactly. We should...", Lindsay stopped because she was surprised he agreed with her, "Should we?" Persuading him was easier than she had thought. Because of the snowstorm that raged outside, she was really surprised that he agreed.<br>"We should make two teams: Peter leads the first team, the second is mine," Connor said and Lindsay watched a little sulkily how he hobbled on his crutch to a chair to put on his snow boots.  
>"You're not going to come with us, right?", she asked cautiously and Connor nodded. "But you can´t," her voice was clearly worried, "If we..."<br>"It´s because of my injury, right?", Connor wasn´t stupid and knew immediately what she wanted to say.  
>"I'm just saying it can be quite dangerous for you," Lindsay sat down next to him, "Besides, you don´t have this crutch forever but only for one week."<br>"She's right," Jack mingled, who brought a thick jacket from his locker, "Why don´t you coordinate the teams? I'm sure we'll get along, if you give us instructions via radio."  
>Connor took a moment to make a decision. Finally he nodded. "All right."<p>

They met five minutes later for a short briefing in the conference room.  
>"We are all connected to each other via radio," Connor said and handed them headsets, "Sue and Jack will go with Anton. The second team consists of Peter and Lindsay."<br>Sue noted the split was quite unfair because they had her dog Levi and Connor decided not to respond.  
>"You will report to me at least report every five minutes and tell me your exact position," Connor gave each team a detailed map of the area. The paper was yellow and when Peter asked how old the maps were, Connor replied that the Ranger had at least told the maps were fine.<br>Then he pushed flashlights across the conference table and small cameras that could record what they saw. Connor didn´t know what they thought they could find in the forest, but he hoped it was really just a harmless animal that scarred them.  
>They were on their way out the door after they had put on their thick winter jackets and put on their beanies. The technical equipment was attached to their clothing.<br>Lindsay left the Mobile Lab and went down the narrow stairs, while Connor was left at the front door. The steps were slippery and she certainly didn´t want him to fall down with his crutch. After the bicycle- accident today wasn´t Connors day.  
>"Be careful, you hear? Don´t do anything I wouldn´t do as well," she said goodbye to him.<br>"You know, the Mobile Lab isn´t just a death trap," he rolled his eyes.  
>"I know it's pretty hard for you to let us go..."<br>"Well, sometimes it feels like no one needs me."  
>"That's not true. I need you and you know."<br>He thanked her for this admission of affection. "Take care of yourselves, okay?"  
>"Yes." She nodded and pressed a kiss on his cheek. Then she ran down the last step of the stairs and hurried to Peter, Anton, Sue and Jack, who were waiting with Levi on the edge of the woods.<p>

Lindsay didn´t believe it could be even colder tonight, because her breath formed clouds in the air. Her smartphone wasn´t working up here in the lonely wilderness of Canada, so she didn´t need to try to find out the current outside temperature on the internet.  
>Except for the glow of their flashlights, it was pitch dark and the forest looked pretty scary.<br>After crossing a forest road near Bluewater Mountain they separated in two teams: While Peter and Lindsay wanted to go to the mountain, Jack, Sue and Anton set off in the opposite direction.  
>The snow crunched under Lindsays feet and it was getting cold when she suddenly stopped.<br>"Wait a second," she grabbed Peter's arm so he couldn´t run away.  
>"What´s wrong?"<br>"The noise."  
>Peter listened and this time he heard it, too: It was a steady, almost melodic beat.<br>"Do you still think it´s caused by an animal?," she wanted to know and Peter shook his head. "Someone plays a pretty bad trick on us," he said and Peter wanted to know who was so mean.  
>Before they continued walking, they shared with Connor and the other team, that they would go to the northwest and follow the noise.<p>

"What, if there is a wild boar?", Sue wanted to know after a while and she said the question directly into her headset as she walked next to Anton and Jack through the dark forest. Jack's flashlight flickered across some bare tree trunks.  
>"Then I hope you can run fast," Jack replied, "They can be quite uncomfortable if someone bothers them." He believed, however, wild boars were currently hibernating. But he didn´t know exactly.<br>So far, Jacks team had gone in the opposite direction, but when Lindsay told them via radio she had heard the knocking noise in the forest, they were also on the way to the northwest.  
>"We should have brought a gun," Peter complained via radio and because Sue couldn´t hear his comment, Jack explained to her what he had just said.<br>"We can´t just shoot an animal," she protested.  
>"We then have to tell the Forest Service, I know," Peter reported back by radio.<br>"We are far too kind to kill animals," now Jack replied and after Sue had seen what he had said, she nodded in agreement.  
>"Did you have any pets?", Sue asked and took Levi´s leash, "You don´t have a heart for animals."<br>Connor thought it was his duty to contradict her. "My family had a hamster when I was a kid," Connor finally told and Jack translated for Sue, "One day he ran away. At least I thought that until I discovered hamster droppings under the couch. So I told my mother the hamster still had to be in the house. My mother found him: He was sitting in the trash can and ate a cookie. The little guy looked pretty wrecked."  
>Lindsay laughed. "Then what happened?", she asked.<br>"The hamster didn´t live long and one morning he was sleeping in his cage. My mother made the pencil- test and in the end she put him into the trash can again. I did everything to save the hamster until he finally died a natural death."  
>Sue and Lindsay laughed when he had finished his story.<br>"Where are you now?", Connor wanted to know.  
>"We couldn´t find the origin of the noise," Lindsay disappoint him when she walked beside Peter. They were now on the road for half an hour.<br>She turned her eyes upward to the heaven, where the constellation of Orion glared. She wasn´t particularly interested in stars and she only knew this because, apart from the large and small scales, Orion was easily indistinguishable from the other constellations. A group of trees was now blocking her view, but there was something else: a large, round object with many glittering lights on the bottom.  
>Lindsay and Peter stopped.<br>"Connor?," Lindsay asked into her headset, "Do you she what I see?" She tried to align the small camera.  
>Connor at the Mobile Lab threw a glance at the screen, which should show him the video from Lindsay's camera. He only saw a flicker. "I'm sorry, I can´t see anything," he apologized to her and at that moment he realized the radio connection to Peter and Lindsay was canceled. So he decided to get in touch with Anton, Jack and Sue.<br>"Where are you? Do you have visual contact with Peter and Lindsay?", Connor wanted to know.  
>"Negative", Jack replied, "We last saw them when they went to Bluewater Mountain."<br>Connor at the Mobile Lab rolled in his office chair to a map as well as his injury allowed. Bluewater Mountain was unspectacular. He wondered why the two had gone there.  
>"Attention, Connor. We are going up a hill from where we have visual contact with Bluewater Mountain", Jack said, gasping noises coming through the line.<br>While he waited, Connor was blinded by a light which came definitely from outside. In his office chair, he rolled over to the window to look out. He didn´t expect someone would visit them at this late time. What he saw made his limbs weak and a short feeling of fear spread through his stomach. The coffee cup, which he held in his hand, had to be placed on the window sill, otherwise the piece of porcelain possibly landed on the floor.  
>"My...", he said but didn´t make it to stop looking at the gleaming lights that moved between the trees.<br>"Connor? Connor, what's wrong?", Jack asked in his headset and when he didn´t get response, he assumed something was wrong with their communication technology, so he shook the microphone. "Connor, what's wrong?", he repeated, but no one responded. Jack also heard only a noise.  
>"I can´t hear him, too," Anton shook his head and they even took Sue's headset because they believed something was wrong with their headsets, but a monotonous noise also hummed through Sues headphones.<br>"What do we do now?", Sue wanted to know. They had stopped and their feet in the cold snow gradually turned into iced lumps.  
>"We should go back to the Mobile Lab", Jack suggested, but Anton shook his head: "I think we should first look for Peter and Lindsay. The two might have got lost."<br>"But Connor..."  
>"Connor is doing well. He´s sitting in the warm Mobile Lab and is safe."<br>"But without the wireless connection we might also get lost," Sue complained.  
>"We take a vote," Jack agreed, "Who wants we first return to the Mobile Lab and take care of working technology?" When he had spoken this sentence, he raised one hand and Sue also did.<br>"My vote counts twice, I have to vote for Levi. We have the majority."  
>Anton rolled his eyes a little annoyed and followed them reluctantly when they went back to the truck, where Connor was waiting for them.<p>

It took about thirty minutes, until they had gone all the way through the thick snow and finally arrived at the Mobile Lab. They ran a little faster when they saw the front door was open. "Connor?", Jack called after him and ran to the truck.  
>Sue stopped horrified when she saw the footprints in the snow that suddenly disappeared at one point. She didn´t know if that was because the wind and the snow could be responsible.<br>Jack jumped up the stairs directly into the laboratory and inside he searched for Connor. "He's not here!", with these words, he jumped down the stairs again shortly afterwards. It was still freezing cold and their breathing formed clouds in the air. The cold ache in Jacks lungs.  
>"Where did he go?", Sue looked around searchingly, while Levi tugged at his leash and barked loudly. Anton wondered if Connor perhaps had driven away in a car, but the two civilian vehicles in which they came, were still snowed in at some distance next to the Mobile Lab.<br>"I don´t know. He hasn´t left a note, "Jack replied, "But the Mobile Lab looks as if he had left in a hurry. He didn´t take his jacket and he hadn´t turned off the electronic devices," Connor was gone, without turning off the coffee machine and the Lab wasn´t even locked.  
>"This is a nightmare!" Sue's voice sounded desperate. Peter and Lindsay had gone lost somewhere in the woods and Connor had vanished, too.<p>

Jack took a moment to sort his thoughts. Connor had announced him to be the leader of this little group and he now had to decide what was a priority. Should he first look for Connor, who was may severely injured and out without winter clothing? Or should he first try to find Peter and Lindsay, to whom they hadn´t been talking for half an hour? Making a decision wasn´t easy. Every one of them deserved his help.  
>Levi began barking loudly and angrily and when he pulled on his leash, Sue turned around. She wanted to see why her dog was so upset. Levi barked louder, he finally tore himself away from her and ran with his leash to the edge of the forest. "Levi!", Sue called after him, but he didn´t obey. She saw that his tail was wagging happily and she let out a relieved breath when she saw Peter and Lindsay coming out of the woods.<br>"Where have you been?", Sue wanted to know, "Why did we lose the wireless connection to you?"  
>"You won´t believe this", Lindsay began and looked at Sue's face which almost challenged to tell anyway, "We have seen a spaceship over our heads and I suspect this is responsible for the collapse of the radio link. It was a flying saucer and had many colored lights on its underside that sparkled like diamonds. First, I didn´t notice the link was broken." She now also saw that the door to the Mobile Lab was still open.<br>"Where's Connor?", Lindsay asked. Jack shook his head and rubbed his cold hands together.  
>"We don´t know," he admitted, "When we have reached the Mobile Lab, the door was wide open and Connor wasn´t there."<br>"We have seen footprints in the snow," Sue added, "Definitely from Connor. But suddenly the tracks stopped."  
>"That doesn´t sound very good," Lindsay said, "Is there anything else I should know."<br>Sue thought for a second, if she should tell her. But it was better to play with their hands in order to put a real time frame as to when they had to find Connor. "He didn´t take his jacket."  
>"Sounds like he would have fled," Peter said. But from what? He let the beam of his flashlight scurry across the exterior wall of the Mobile Lab and it accidentally brushed against some treetops.<br>"The trees are broken," he held the light cone at the trees that were right next to the lab, "As far as I can remember the trees were fine this morning."  
>He wondered what Connor had seen so he had to leave the Mobile Lab quickly and he didn´t even found time to put on a warm jacket.<br>"We have to look for him," Jack thought that was obvious. They wouldn´t leave a member of their team out here. But they had to hurry, because the cold and the falling snow from the sky were getting worse.

"This dammed map doesn´t help us a bit!", Lindsay crumpled the yellowed piece of paper in her hand when she realized they had reached a forest road which wasn´t written at the map.  
>"You have to stay calm," Sue said to her, "If we lose our nerves now, we can´t help Connor a bit."<br>Lindsay nodded. Inwardly, she thought Sue had absolutely no idea what it was like when her best friend suddenly disappeared without a trace. Her heart sank together painfully, when she thought about she probably would never see Connor again. She had told him, he shouldn´t do anything stupid. Why did he then run away?  
>"Why aren´t we looking for him in teams?", Lindsay asked.<br>"Because I have the responsibility, as long as Connor isn´t there," Jack replied, "Our technique doesn´t work and therefore I´m not in the mood for looking after another missing team member. And as you've probably noticed: our maps are outdated. The probability we get lost is too huge."  
>He raised his voice and Lindsay tried to swallow the tears of rage in her eyes.<br>"Okay," she wanted to try to accept his decision.  
>While the two discussed, Anton, Jack and Sue had gone a little further. Levi suddenly began to pull on his leash and Sue tried not to slip on the slick snow.<br>"Here is someone!," Peter cried, when they came closer to the bunch of snow that looked surprising similar to a human body. They hurried and ran faster, until the rest of the team arrived at the pile of snow which lay in the middle of a clearing. Peter shone his flashlight into the trees: They were also broken. Just as the trees next to the Mobile Lab. He wondered what the hell was going on here.  
>Lindsay almost fell down and she saw it was actually a man. "Connor," she cried formally when she dug him out of the snow and then turned him around. She had to push Levi aside, who already sniffed Connor´s face. Peter and Anton were relieved and equally shocked. They mumbled something about a car.<br>His eyes were closed and his skin was pale. One hand was still holding the crutch, but Lindsay didn´t move his limbs. She was afraid she might break a bone if he was already frozen to death... No, she didn´t like to think this.  
>Instead of moving him, she hugged him. Sue came to her and spread a blanket over him, she brought with her. Levi sat down on Connor's legs to warm him. Sue tried to stay calm. Comfortingly she grabbed Lindsay's arm and squeezed it tightly.<br>Then they had to wait until Anton, Jack and Peter had dug the civilian vehicles out of the snow and come to them, so they could finally take Connor to the hospital.

Connors eyelids were heavy and burned like fire, when he opened it and was able to see his friends through a grey veil. He opened his mouth to say something, but the incoming air caused a cough. In addition, a broad tube stuck in his throat, which disabled him swallowing. He heard how Lindsay called for a nurse while she still held his hand and his breathing tube was removed shortly thereafter. Connor took a moment to calm down.  
>"Where am I?", he asked, when he could speak again and Lindsay handed him a cup of water.<br>"We are at the hospital. You were half-frozen, when we found you. How are you?"  
>Connor was currently trying to convince himself: He moved his fingers and toes and grabbed his nose and his ears. He probably expected he could have got serious frostbites in the cold, which necessitated amputation. Relieved, he stated he was still completed.<br>"What did you think when you left the Lab without a winter jacket in the freezing cold?", Lindsay wanted to know.  
>"Sorry, I didn´t want to worry you... I had to hurry", when Connor said this Peter and Jack got chairs and sat beside his bed.<br>"What happened?", Peter asked, "We found you almost two miles away from the Mobile Lab."  
>Connor was surprised to hear that. "I remember I had radio contact with Lindsay and was blinded by a light. I looked out the window and saw a large round disk with many colorful lights on the bottom hovering over the trees. The lights sparkled as if they were dancing to a tune ", while Connor spoke, he looked eagerly into the faces of his friends and he saw in Lindsay's eyes she had seen exactly the same flying object.<br>"When the lights were brighter, I got up and hobbled out of the laboratory. On the way out, I slipped on the stairs and fell down the last step... I got up and I walked to the bright, shining light which was right about me", he paused and it seemed he would have to think about the next scene before he was shaking his head, "That's all I can remember. I have no idea how I could get so far away from the Mobile Lab."  
>Peter had an idea, but he didn´t say. Maybe they would talk about this at another time.<br>For a while no one said a word. "That doesn´t matter," Anton finally said, "The important thing is we´re all doing well."  
>"Yes," Connor nodded, "I rather suspect there have been several spaceships." He couldn´t imagine that one and the same spacecraft could simultaneously hover over Peter and Lindsay and the Mobile Lab, which was parked a half-hour- walk away. "Can you remember something?", Connor looked at Peter and Lindsay.<br>"Nothing spectacular," Peter truthfully answered, "We have seen some bright lights over our heads and we immediately returned to the Mobile Lab." Peter had to admit he had forgotten the noise in the woods. And no matter what it was, he didn´t want to stay a second longer to find out.  
>"Do you really think this was an alien spacecraft?", Sue wanted to know uncertain.<br>"I'm sure it wasn´t a plane or helicopter," Peter told her. He understood her doubts: She belonged to the part of the team which hadn´t seen the lights.  
>A nurse pushed a rattling cart with Connors breakfast into the room. It was oatmeal and a bagel with cream cheese. In the faces of his friends, he saw they didn´t envy him for this food.<br>"I´m sure you are very tired," Sue began, patting Levi, "We should go and let you sleep." Peter and Anton nodded and headed for the door.  
>"Get well," said Lindsay, before she gave Connor a farewell kiss on the cheek, took her jacket and then went to her friends, who were waiting for her at the door.<br>"We´ll come back tomorrow," Jack promised him, "Until then, I hope you look a little bit better."  
>Connor nodded and grinned because of Jack's comment. When his friends were gone, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep.<br>The horrible memories returned.  
>Step by Step.<p>

Fin


End file.
